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Small Shuttle-Compatible Propulsion Module

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Air Force
Contract: F29601-02-C-0079
Agency Tracking Number: 021NM-0503
Amount: $99,350.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 2002
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
13855 Stowe Drive
Poway, CA 92064
United States
DUNS: 027436083
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Jeffrey Janicik
 Principal Investigator
 (858) 375-2042
 jeff@spacedev.com
Business Contact
 Charles Lloyd
Title: COO/CFO
Phone: (858) 375-2030
Email: charles.lloyd@spacedev.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

"NASA and the Air Force have established a need for smaller payloads launched on the Shuttle Hitchhiker Experiment Launch System (SHELS) to achieve longer missions and/or more useful orbits by use of a propulsion module (PM). For Phase I, SpaceDev willimprove on and demonstrate the practicality of the Maneuvering and Transfer Vehicle (MTV) when deployed from SHELS. The MTV is a scalable, affordable and modular design that utilizes safe, storable propellants (nitrous oxide and Plexiglas). The primarydifficulty in implementing a PM for SHELS is the stringent safety requirements of the Space Transportation System (STS). SpaceDev proposes to perform a thorough investigation of the SHELS/STS safety requirements combined with a careful design optimizationprocess that emphasizes safety, cost, and performance. SpaceDev will show that an Advanced MTV can serve as a PM and host spacecraft bus that will maximize the available volume and mass for potential SHELS experiments/instruments. In addition, SpaceDevwill design a catalyst bed for multiple MTV restarts and select new fuel core compositions to increase performance and potentially reduce vehicle mass and volume. SpaceDev intends to apply these findings to a Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) conceptual designin the event SHELS launches are not readily available. Many payloads get dropped off in an undesirable orbit due to current launch vehicle cost constraints. A recent California-funded Sp

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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